Three-dimensional (3D) imaging is a fast growing trend, especially in the Industrial Automation field, where embedded vision sensors are widely used. Range imaging techniques are spreading not only due to Stereoscopic or Structured Light approaches, but also with new image sensors designed to measure the pixel distance by various methods and technologies, such as time-of-flight (TOF) and light-field (aka plenoptic) cameras.
A relevant example of an industrial, entry-level apparatus (based on different technology and method) is the TriSpector 1000 3D Vision Family manufactured by SICK AG of Waldkirch, Germany. Although a single optimal approach has not yet emerged, the possibility to equip a 3D camera with soft Artificial Intelligence is a very hot topic in the pattern recognition and machine vision community.